NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MEET INFORMATION
Purdue Women at the NCAA Championships
Thursday to Saturday, March 18 to 20 / ESPN3
Diving prelims during the noon hour / Finals sessions at 6 p.m. ET
Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, North Carolina
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A trio of divers are set to represent Purdue women's swimming & diving this week on the national stage of the NCAA Championships.
Emily Bretscher, Maggie Merriman and Maycey Vieta earned the right to compete at the national championship meet. Bretscher qualified in all three diving events for the second time in her career. Merriman and Vieta are also in the mix for Saturday's platform competition after finishing 1-2 in the event at the Zone C Championships on March 9.
Among a field of 75 divers, Bretscher is one of 20 to qualify for NCAAs in all three events.
Bretscher is set to compete at NCAAs for the third time in her career. Merriman was also a qualifier on the tower as a freshman in 2019. All three Boilermakers competing this week were recognized as All-Americans last season after the NCAA Championships were canceled in the wake of the shutdown brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Purdue has had at least one women's diver earn All-America honors at the NCAA Championships in 15 of the last 16 years the meet has been held. That run dates back to 2004, with 2012 being the only year a Purdue diver did not qualify for the national championship meet. This year marks the first time since 2009 that the Boilermakers only qualified divers for the women's NCAAs.
The Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina is hosting both men's and women's NCAA Championships this month. Purdue qualified nine student-athletes for the men's meet next week. Greensboro also hosted the women's meet in 2015.
The top 16 finishers in the preliminaries clinch All-America honors and advance to finals. The top eight compete for the national championship in the evening finals. Diving is traditionally the final individual event of the finals sessions and begins in a window of approximately 7:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. Consolation finals for diving are held a few minutes after the prelims end. Springboard prelims begin at 12:30 p.m. – with 1-meter Thursday and 3-meter Friday. Saturday's platform prelim gets underway at 12:15 p.m.
PURDUE NOTABLES
• As a sophomore at NCAAs in 2019, Emily Bretscher finished as the runner-up in the 1-meter and platform consolation finals. That equaled a pair of 10th-place overall finishes. She became the first Boilermaker to post a pair of top-10 showings in the same year at NCAAs since Michelle Cabassol (4th on 3-meter, 10th on 1-meter) in 2014.
• Bretscher's consistency and versatility have been demonstrated best with her strong showings at the Big Ten and Zone C Championships the last few years. At those two meets, she has posted 13 consecutive top-10 finishes, across all three events, dating back to the platform championship final at Big Tens in 2019.
• Maggie Merriman is back after finishing 25th of 44 on the tower in her debut at the national championship meet in 2019. She has medaled in event at Big Tens each of the last two years, becoming the first Boilermaker to medal on platform in consecutive seasons since MacKenzie Tweardy (2013-15). Tweardy was also an All-American in the event each of her upperclassman years (2014-15).
• Maycey Vieta has finished top five on the tower in all four championship-format meets in which she has competed at for the Boilermakers. That list is highlighted by her silver medal at Big Tens as a freshman last year. She also won the event at Zones this year, finished third at IUPUI's House of Champions Invitational in November 2019 and placed fourth at Big Tens this year.
2021 NCAAs QUALIFIERS IN ALL 3 DIVING EVENTS
• Nike Agunbiade, USC
• Emily Bretscher, Purdue
• Tarrin Gilliland, Indiana
• Emily Grund, North Carolina
• Camryn Hidalgo, Georgia Tech
• Abigail Knapton, Nebraska
• Kyndal Knight, Kentucky
• Montserrat Lavenant, LSU
• Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez, San Diego State
• Melissa Mirafuentes, Wyoming
• Hannah Montau, Navy
• Izzi Mroz, Virginia Tech
• Mia Paulsen, Stanford
• Paola Pineda, Texas
• Jocelyn Porter, Virginia
• Amy Read, Pitt
• Jordan Skilken, Texas
• Kelly Straub, Notre Dame
• Briana Thai, Cal
• Aranza Vazquez Montano, North Carolina
Purdue Women at the NCAA Championships
Thursday to Saturday, March 18 to 20 / ESPN3
Diving prelims during the noon hour / Finals sessions at 6 p.m. ET
Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, North Carolina
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A trio of divers are set to represent Purdue women's swimming & diving this week on the national stage of the NCAA Championships.
Emily Bretscher, Maggie Merriman and Maycey Vieta earned the right to compete at the national championship meet. Bretscher qualified in all three diving events for the second time in her career. Merriman and Vieta are also in the mix for Saturday's platform competition after finishing 1-2 in the event at the Zone C Championships on March 9.
Among a field of 75 divers, Bretscher is one of 20 to qualify for NCAAs in all three events.
Bretscher is set to compete at NCAAs for the third time in her career. Merriman was also a qualifier on the tower as a freshman in 2019. All three Boilermakers competing this week were recognized as All-Americans last season after the NCAA Championships were canceled in the wake of the shutdown brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Purdue has had at least one women's diver earn All-America honors at the NCAA Championships in 15 of the last 16 years the meet has been held. That run dates back to 2004, with 2012 being the only year a Purdue diver did not qualify for the national championship meet. This year marks the first time since 2009 that the Boilermakers only qualified divers for the women's NCAAs.
The Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina is hosting both men's and women's NCAA Championships this month. Purdue qualified nine student-athletes for the men's meet next week. Greensboro also hosted the women's meet in 2015.
The top 16 finishers in the preliminaries clinch All-America honors and advance to finals. The top eight compete for the national championship in the evening finals. Diving is traditionally the final individual event of the finals sessions and begins in a window of approximately 7:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. Consolation finals for diving are held a few minutes after the prelims end. Springboard prelims begin at 12:30 p.m. – with 1-meter Thursday and 3-meter Friday. Saturday's platform prelim gets underway at 12:15 p.m.
PURDUE NOTABLES
• As a sophomore at NCAAs in 2019, Emily Bretscher finished as the runner-up in the 1-meter and platform consolation finals. That equaled a pair of 10th-place overall finishes. She became the first Boilermaker to post a pair of top-10 showings in the same year at NCAAs since Michelle Cabassol (4th on 3-meter, 10th on 1-meter) in 2014.
• Bretscher's consistency and versatility have been demonstrated best with her strong showings at the Big Ten and Zone C Championships the last few years. At those two meets, she has posted 13 consecutive top-10 finishes, across all three events, dating back to the platform championship final at Big Tens in 2019.
• Maggie Merriman is back after finishing 25th of 44 on the tower in her debut at the national championship meet in 2019. She has medaled in event at Big Tens each of the last two years, becoming the first Boilermaker to medal on platform in consecutive seasons since MacKenzie Tweardy (2013-15). Tweardy was also an All-American in the event each of her upperclassman years (2014-15).
• Maycey Vieta has finished top five on the tower in all four championship-format meets in which she has competed at for the Boilermakers. That list is highlighted by her silver medal at Big Tens as a freshman last year. She also won the event at Zones this year, finished third at IUPUI's House of Champions Invitational in November 2019 and placed fourth at Big Tens this year.
2021 NCAAs QUALIFIERS IN ALL 3 DIVING EVENTS
• Nike Agunbiade, USC
• Emily Bretscher, Purdue
• Tarrin Gilliland, Indiana
• Emily Grund, North Carolina
• Camryn Hidalgo, Georgia Tech
• Abigail Knapton, Nebraska
• Kyndal Knight, Kentucky
• Montserrat Lavenant, LSU
• Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez, San Diego State
• Melissa Mirafuentes, Wyoming
• Hannah Montau, Navy
• Izzi Mroz, Virginia Tech
• Mia Paulsen, Stanford
• Paola Pineda, Texas
• Jocelyn Porter, Virginia
• Amy Read, Pitt
• Jordan Skilken, Texas
• Kelly Straub, Notre Dame
• Briana Thai, Cal
• Aranza Vazquez Montano, North Carolina